Archaic England Part 40

Holloway Road, in London, implies, I think, at least one _Holy Way_, and there seems to me a probability that London stone was a primitive Jupiterstone, yprestone, preston, pray stone, or phairy stone, similar to the holy centre-stone of sacred Athens: "Look upon the dance, Olympians; send us the grace of Victory, ye G.o.ds who come to the heart of our city, where many feet are treading and incense streams: in sacred Athens come to the holy centre-stone".

FOOTNOTES:

[506] _Iliad_, Bk. XX., 434.

[507] A King Cunedda figures in Welsh literature as the first native ruler of Wales, and tradition makes Cunedda a son of the daughter of Coel, probably the St. Helen who was the daughter of Old King Cole, and who figures as the London Great St. Helen and Little St. Helen: possibly, also, as the ancient London G.o.ddess Nehallenia = New Helen, Nelly = Ellen.

[508] _History_, Bk. V.

[509] Church, A. J. and Brodribb, W. J., _The History of Tacitus_, 1873, p. 229.

[510] Quoted in _Celtic Britain_, Rhys, Sir J., p. 74.

[511] Address to British a.s.sociation.

[512] Quoted in _The Veil of Isis_, Reade, W. W., p. 47.

[513] Wilkie, James, _Saint Bride, the Greatest Woman of the Celtic Church_.

[514] Nonnus, quoted from _A Dissertation on The Mysteries of the Cabiri_, Faber, G. S., vol. ii., p. 313.

[515] Huyshe, W., _The Life of St. Columba_, p. 247.

[516] Canon ffrench, _Prehistoric Faith and Wors.h.i.+p_, p. 56.

[517] Hughes, T., _The Scouring of the White Horse_, p. 111.

[518] Apart from recent experiences and the records of the Saxon invaders of this country, one may connote the candid maxims of the Frederick upon whom the German nation has thought proper to confer the sobriquet of "Great," _e.g._:--

"It was the genius of successive rulers of our race to be guided only by self-interest, ambition, and the instinct of self-preservation."

"When Prussia shall have made her fortune, she will be able to give herself the air of good-faith and of constancy which is only suitable for great States or small Sovereigns." "As for war, it is a profession in which the smallest scruple would spoil everything."

"Nothing exercises a greater tyranny over the spirit and heart than religion.... Do we wish to make a treaty with a Power? If we only remember that we are Christians all is lost, we shall always be duped."

"Do not blush at making alliances with the sole object of reaping advantage for yourself. Do not commit the vulgar fault of not abandoning them when you believe it to be to your advantage to do so; and, above all, ever follow this maxim that to despoil your neighbours is to take from them the means of doing you harm."

In the eyes of the stupid and unappreciative Britons the Saxons were "swine," and the "loathest of all things," _vide_ Layamon's _Brut_, _e.g._: "Lo! where here before us the heathen hounds, who slew our ancestors with their wicked crafts; and they are to us in land _loathest of all things_.

Now march we to them, and starkly lay on them, and avenge worthily our kindred, and our realm, and avenge the mickle shame by which they have disgraced us, that they over the waves should have come to Dartmouth. And all they are forsworn, and all they shall be destroyed; they shall be all put to death, with the Lord's a.s.sistance! March we now forward, fast together"--(Everyman's Library, p. 195).

"The Saxons set out across the water, until their sails were lost to sight. I know not what was their hope, nor the name of him who put it in their mind, but they turned their boats, and pa.s.sed through the channel between England and Normandy.

With sail and oar they came to the land of Devon, casting anchor in the haven of Totnes. The heathen breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the folk of the country.

They poured forth from their s.h.i.+ps, and scattered themselves abroad amongst the people, searching out arms and raiment, firing homesteads and slaying Christian men. They pa.s.sed to and fro about the country, carrying off all they found beneath their hands. Not only did they rob the hind of his weapon, but they slew him on his hearth with his own knife.

Thus throughout Somerset and a great part of Dorset, these pirates spoiled and ravaged at their pleasure, finding none to hinder them at their task"--(_Ibid._, p. 47).

[519] Allen J. Romilly, _Celtic Art in Pagan and Christian Times_, p. 130.

[520] _A Guide to the Antiquities of the Iron Age_, p. 89.

[521] Quoted by J. Romilly Allen, in _Celtic Art_, p. 138.

[522] Rev. Wm. Greenwell and Parker Brewis, _Archaeologia_, vol.

lxi., pp. 439, 472 (1909).

[523] Rev. Wm. Greenwell and Parker Brewis, _Archaeologia_, vol.

lxi., p. 4.

[524] The standard supposition that Smithfield is a corruption of _smooth field_ may or may not be well founded.

[525] Bohn's ed., p. 382.

[526] The psychology of Homer's description of the Vulcan menage is curiously suggestive of a modern visit to the village blacksmith:--

"Him swelt'ring at his forge she found, intent On forming twenty tripods, which should stand The wall surrounding of his well-built house, The silver-footed Queen approach'd the house, Charis, the skilful artist's wedded wife, Beheld her coming, and advanc'd to meet; And, as her hand she clasp'd, address'd her thus: 'Say, Thetis of the flowing robe, belov'd And honour'd, whence this visit to our house, An unaccustom'd guest? but come thou in, That I may welcome thee with honour due.'

Thus, as she spoke, the G.o.ddess led her in, And on a seat with silver studs adorn'd, Fair, richly wrought, a footstool at her feet, She bade her sit; then thus to Vulcan call'd; 'Haste hither, Vulcan; Thetis asks thine aid.'

Whom answer'd thus the skill'd artificer: 'An honour'd and a venerated guest Our house contains; who sav'd me once from woe, Then thou the hospitable rites perform, While I my bellows and my tools lay by.'

He said, and from the anvil rear'd upright His ma.s.sive strength; and as he limp'd along, His tott'ring knees were bow'd beneath his weight.

The bellows from the fire he next withdrew, And in a silver casket plac'd his tools; Then with a sponge his brows and l.u.s.ty arms He wip'd, and st.u.r.dy neck and hairy chest.

He donn'd his robe, and took his weighty staff; Then through the door with halting step he pa.s.s'd; ... with halting gait, Pa.s.s'd to a gorgeous chair by Thetis' side, And, as her hand he clasp'd, address'd her thus: 'Say Thetis, of the flowing robe, belov'd And honour'd, whence this visit to our house, An unaccustom'd guest? say what thy will, And, if within my pow'r esteem it done.'"

_Iliad_, Bk. XVIII., p. 420-80.

[527] British Museum, _A Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron Age_, p. 54.

[528] "Antiquities to be noted therein are: First the street of Lothberie, Lathberie, or Loadberie (for by all these names have I read it), took the name (as it seemeth) of berie, or court of old time there kept, but by whom is grown out of memory. This street is possessed for the most part by founders, that cast candlesticks, chafing-dishes, spice mortars, and such like copper or laton works and do afterward turn them with the foot, and not with the wheel, to make them smooth and bright with turning and scrating (as some do term it), making a loathsome noise to the by-pa.s.sers that have not been used to the like, and therefore by them disdainfully called Lothberie."--_London_ (Ev. Lib.), p. 248.

[529] _Phenomena_, p. xvii.

[530] Stow, _London_, p. 221.

[531] _Giraldus Cambrensis_, p. 97.

[532] _Cf._ Rhys, Sir J., _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 613.

[533] _Cf._ _A New Light on the Renaissance_ and _The Lost Language of Symbolism_.

[534] Windle, B. C. A., _Life in Early Britain_, p. 116.

[535] Cacus figures in mythology as a huge giant, the son of Vulcan, and the stealer of Hercules' oxen.

[536] Duncan, T., _The Religions of Profane Antiquity_, p. 59.

[537] Hazlitt, W. Carew, _Faith and Folklore_, vol. i., p. 210.

[538] A trace of the old sacrificial eating?

[539] Gomme, L., _Folklore as an Historic Science_, p. 43.

[540] See Johnson, W., _Byways of British Archaeology_. "Among the Saxons only a high priest might lawfully ride a mare," p.